Chattahoochee-Muscogee-Stewart County GaArchives Biographies.....Stephens, John unknown - unknown ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 5, 2004, 1:16 pm Author: N. K. Rogers JOHN STEPHENS Mr. Stephens was a citizen of that order whose living in the county meant living for the best interests of his county. For his acumen in business affairs necessarily taught him that his own prosperity depended upon the general prosperity of the county. So he encouraged and aided all industrial effort in his own neighborhood. After returning from the Civil War, he clerked in the store of N. N. Howard, thereby gaining some experience in the art of buying and selling goods. In 1866 he began the mercantile business on a small scale. He added agricultural pursuits, gradually expanding until he was operating both on an extensive scale. At the height of his prosperity he sold from $10,00.00 to $12,000.00 worth of-goods each month; the volume of his business reaching approximately $125,000.00 yearly. He handled everything usually called for and if any article called for was not in stock, he added this to his list to be purchased at once. Some one said: "The store of Mr. John Stephens of Cusseta comes as near having everything we can call for as any country store in the Columbus District." Profits were spent in the development of his varied enterprises in the county, thus giving employment to all idle laborers. He kept his own money in circulation and acted as banker for people in the county. They brought their money to him for safe-keeping and he paid them interest for its use. If more was brought than he could use, he assumed responsibility and placed it with others. His methods of farming are said to have been 25 years ahead of his time. He saw the value of diversification, and experimented with new ideas. He salted from 100 to 150 hogs each winter, raising them on his farm and selling them through his store. He raised cows —sold about 100 annually—also ponies and mules. Lot compost enriched his lands, and he kept all his farm land in excellent condition with ditches, fences and tennant houses in perfect order. So it is not surprising that he made three-fourths of a bale of cotton per acre upon land others considered of little value due to soil erosion and its attendant evils. His large ginnery operated by steam prepared the cotton to be marketed. Mr. Stephens raised all feed for his cattle and hogs, being the first man to plant peanuts on a large scale to fatten hogs. He shipped the only car loads of watermelons ever sent from Chattahoochee County while Mr. Eli Averett shipped many car loads from Renfroe, but his farm was principally in Stewart County. Before the railroads were built through this county, Mr. Stephens had two wagons making regular trips to Columbus to bring goods for the store. In addition to this, all the farmers who passed through Cusseta going to Columbus with loads of cotton brought freight for him at a fixed price per hundred pounds. He never had any trouble about the delivery of goods and never had a shortage of labor because he gave every one a fair deal. His children memorialized his honesty by inscribing upon his tombstone "An honest man is the noblest work of God." While obtaining prominence in the community he had the encouragement and assistance of a noble wife, Mrs. Sallie Mozelle Patterson Stephens. Of no lady was the following tribute ever more truly spoken, "As a Christian she was consecrated; true as a wife, a devoted mother, an excellent neighbor, a sincere friend, uniformly kind to all." The lives of Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were positive forces in the development of everything beneficial to the community and county. Calvin and Martha (Saffold) Stephens, parents of Mr. John Stephens, reared a large family. Another of their sons, C. W., who married Miss Julia Averett, spent his life in this county and his son, Curtis V. Stephens, lives at Renfroe. Peter Stephen, a son of Calvin, once owned a plantation near Renfroe, removing to Webster Co., thence to Texas. He married a daughter of Thos. and Epsy A. (Watkins) Bush who also married in Muscogee Co. (May 30, 1839). Mrs. G. H. Sapp says when her husband was teaching in that community, Mrs. Peter Stephens was one of the best neighbors she ever had. Her father, Thos. Bush, had a plantation with slaves and the usual chattels necessary for comfortable living at that time, as records of inventory of his estate show. He died in 1858, comparatively a young man, for census records of 1850 indicate that he was 35 and his wife 25 that year. His sister, Zilphia, (25) who had married Henry Stringfellow in 1842 lived near Mr. Bush's homestead. The Stephens and Bush families settled in Harris Dist., Muscogee Co., which became part of Chattahoochee in 1854. Mrs. Calvin Stephens, Mrs. Samuel Brady (later Mrs. Wm. McBride) and their brother-Adam Saffold were born in Washington Co., Ga., where men of this name attained prominence in political affairs. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY, GEORGIA By N. K. Rogers Dedicated to KASIHITA CHAPTER U. D. C. and all worthy descendants of the County's first settlers. Copyright 1933 by N. K. ROGERS PRINTED BY COLUMBUS OFFICE SUPPLY CO. COLUMBUS, GA. 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